SS OU Arcanine Team (peak 1676)

[Sir Snub]

The Team:

https://pokepast.es/2e7fd47a05d0d41c

Arcanine @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Will-O-Wisp/Play Rough
- Morning Sun​

The first Mon is Arcanine. I think it is a great mon in the meta, checking dangerous picks like Darmanitan and Aegislash, while exerting some offensive pressure.
It functions as the first complement in the fire/water/grass-core of the team and provides priority with Espeed. Running an adamant nature helps to break Hydreigons Substitute and prevents Arcanine from being a set-up-fadder for the Sub-Nasty Plot set (in case you run Will-O-Wisp instead of Play Rough). Morning Sun secures Arcanines ability to stick around and be annoying and makes sure that it 1v1s specs Dragapult/scarf Hydreigon in a Draco -> Morning Sun -> Draco -> Morning Sun scenario. Last two options are Will-O-Wisp or Play Rough. Play Rough is a great way to hit the dragon types of the tier dealing massive damage to Dragapult, Hydreigon, Dracozolt and Dracovish. Will-O-Wisp on the other hand can cripple physical attackers that are not affected by tspikes like Gyarados or Hawlucha (Play Rough can deal with this as well) and can chip pokemon that are not affected by Tspikes (e.g. it negates Toxapexes black sludge recovery). Both options have their advanages and disadvantages.

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic Spikes
- Haze
- Recover​

Speaking of Toxic Spikes: the second member of the team is Toxapex. Functioning as the special sponge in the team. Full sp.def invested no special attack can ohko this coral (is it a coral? idk,idc). Scald to burn things and cripple them. Toxic Spikes to poison everything thats grounded. Haze to prevent set-up. And recover to fullfill its role as annoying tank.

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Power Whip/Gyro Ball
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
- Stealth Rock​

Numero 3: Ferrothorn. It completes the fire/water/grass-core and is a great Stealth Rocker, maybe the best in the tier. Ferrothorn has been great since it was released and why should it be different this generation. Power Whip or Gyro Ball are the main STAB options (i like Power Whip more). Knock off removes the items to make Toxic Spikes as difficult to deal with as possible. Leech Seed helps to recover its HP especially after getting hit by some heavy blows. And last but not least Stealth Rock to have a damaging hazard move that punishes to much switching and makes the hazard-stacking-game a little more even.

Dracozolt @ Choice Band
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bolt Beak
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Dragon Claw​

The first offensive Mon is banded Dracozolt. With Choice Band Bolt Beak it hits incerdibly hard. Earthquake, Fire Fang and Dragon Claw are great coverage options and Dracozolt is able to hit pretty much everything with super effective damage except Seismitoad, which is easily worn down with Toxic Spikes on the field. In fact Seismitoad is often the only switch in for Dracozolt. That's why Toxic Spikes + Dracozolt is such an amazing combination. With Seismitoad out of the way it often happens that Daracolzolt claims a kill with Bolt Beak everytime it comes in. I run Volt Absorb because I hate the 20% chance to miss (especially annoying in your end-game) and Bolt Beak is strong enough to OHKO most mons. Plus Volt Absorb prevents Mons from keeping up momentum and helps you getting in favorable positions especially against choiced toxtricity and choiced Rotom.

Darmanitan-Galar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Gorilla Tactics
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Flare Blitz
- Earthquake
- U-turn​

He had to be here. Galarian-Darmanitan ffs (fast, funny, strong). Its Gorilla Tactics boosted STAB Icicle Crash is super strong, super difficult to switch in and hast a 30% chance to flinch, which is devastating with a choice scarf. Flare Blitz to hit Ferrothorn. Earthquake to hit Toxapex and U-turn to keep up Momentum. I didn't think that i had to say anything to this mon, but i did to follow the RMT-Guidelines :). This thing is a monster.The perfect revenge killer. No more words needed.

Hydreigon @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Flash Cannon
- Nasty Plot
- Substitute​

Hydreigon: the last member of the team. I thought the team needs a dragon and a ground immunity and a Substitute Mon. So Hydreigon was the perfect fit. It is super easy to bring up a Substitute against many Pokemon like Toxapex, Rotom, Ferrothorn, Seismitoad, etc. and Nasty Plot up. Dark Pulse and Flash Cannon hits almost every Pokemon for at least neutral damage.

Threats:
1: Conkeldurr: Conkeldurr is very difficult to deal with, because it recovers the damage done with its powerful Drain Punch and hits Pex and Arcanine with Earthquake. Plus it is very difficult to revenge kill with Darmanitan because of Mach Punch. The best way to deal with it is to bring in Arcanine do some damage and revenge kill it with Darcozolt, but if your opponent plays smart enough it will be very difficult to play around.

2: Hazard Stacking: The lack of hazard removal can be a real pain. Spikes+Stealth Rocks or Webs is a effective way to chip/slow down the team. The most effective way to deal with this kind of situations is to stack your own hazards and then trying to win with Hydreigon. The core is normally strong enough to resist offensive pressure and hydreigon is neither hit by spikes nor slowed down by webs.

3. Excadrill/Hatterene: both not easy to deal with but nothing impossible.

Proof of peak:

That's it :) If you have any suggestions feel free to post it. I am happy for any type of help.

 

[HyperFlux]

Interesting team to say the least, first thing I want to address is your arcanine. You're running a very interesting ev spread, however I dont much see a point in running an adamant nature on it if its just to break a hydreigon sub, which is very situational. Additionally, you're not running and sp def investment, so more than likely arcanine would just be fodder for it. I would recommend running a fully defensive set, which will increase your longevity and tanking ability.

Arcanine @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Def / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Snarl/Roar
- Morning Sun
- Flamethrower

This spread will allow you to take on a variety of mons more effectively, such as gyarados, phys attack aegi, darm and vish on the switch, and as well just to cripple a lot of common attackers in the tier. Snarl is to further increase your bulk, nailing dragapult and sp att aegi on the switch as well as clefable and hatterene.

Second change I would make is switching your pex from sp def to phys def. Scarf Garmanitan and guts conk really clean your team up, phys def pex can really help with this, as it can be a decent check to a locked in Garmanitan and is a solid answer to things like tyranitar, bisharp, cinderace, and grimmsnarl. I think your moveset is generally fine, although i might think about replacing toxic spikes with toxic, just to have a direct answer to levitate mons like hydreigon and rotom.

Ferro looks fine, although i would replace knock for protect just to increase recovery, but it's really personal preference.

My next concern is Dracozolt. In my humble opinion, this is an un-mon, and I really dont like using mons based around a risky gimmick like hustle. The fact that you are running volt absorb means you lose out on a lot of power that hustle provides, and the fact you are running band means you'll always be worrying about getting outsped by things faster than you. Very common threats can easily switch in, such as excadrill and dugtrio, and either force a switch or trap and kill you. If you really must use this mon then do so, im not one to tell you which mons you can and cant use, however if you are looking for a good replacement i would replace it with Rotom-H. Running Rotom-H will provide you with a soft check to lo clef and hatterene, and act as a good pivot. In addition, you wall excadrill not running rock slide, and can come in on choice locked Garmanitan. The below set will allow you to act as a good offensive pivot, without sacrificing defense. (You could also replace arcanine with this as well if you dont want to lose dracozolt)

Rotom-Heat @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 40 SpA / 84 SpD / 132 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Overheat
- Volt Switch

Garmanitan looks fine. I mean its garmanitan so.

I LOVE hydreigon. However, the sub+nasty plot set, while good, is not as good since the dyna ban, as well as being fodder for specs or scarf dragapult who can kill you through sub. If it were me, i would change to a scarf set with draco/fire blast/dark pulse/u-turn. Running scarf surprises several OU threats, mainly specs pult and scard Garmanitan. It is so satisfying leading with this on the Garmanitan lead and OHKO'ing with fire blast. Additionally, running scarf you form a pretty formidable volt-turn core with rotom-h and garmanitan.

Finally, you definitely need to take a look at roles on your team. You lack a defogger/spinner, so you'll be getting racked up on you. Looking at your team build, you would benefit from defog corvi, who can not only defog but act as a slow u-turner, further boosting your pivoting abilities. Anyway, hope I helped, it seems like you know how to use this team effectively so dont think any of my suggestions will make your team better or worse

- Will-O-Wisp

 

[orangejuicenut]

Full sp.def invested no special attack can ohko this coral (is it a coral? idk,idc).

I don't have anything competitive to add, but Toxapex is a Starfish (Crown of Thorns Starfish) not a coral. It eats coral.

I will be trying out your team in ladder, and trying some of HyperFlux's suggestions if your core team doesn't work for me. But it looks great and fun!